As videoconferencing technology has improved, it has come to be more widely deployed. One problem that has historically existed with videoconferencing technology is that the technology interferes with the conferencing experience. Small screen sizes, low quality video, and low quality audio were the norm and created barriers to personal interaction that do not appear in face-to-face meetings. Immersive telepresence (“ITP”) systems, which employ a combination of large screens, high quality video, and high quality audio have been developed to overcome these advantages.
One such system is described in co-pending patent application Ser. No. 12/249,467, filed Oct. 10, 2008, entitled Integrated System for Telepresence Videoconferencing. Such systems include numerous features designed to enhance the user's interaction experience. For example, multiple cameras and codecs coupled with relatively large screens allow the remote participants to appear very near their actual size. This, coupled with high quality video can give the feeling of a face-to-face meeting. Many such systems also employ custom furniture that is very similar at the local and remote endpoints. This, too helps provide the illusion of a face-to-face meeting. Other features, such as high fidelity audio dedicated presentation screens, and the like also contribute to the enhanced conferencing experience delivered by ITP systems.
However, one drawback of today's ITP systems is that they are very expensive. Such systems can often cost on the order of $1,000,000. Another disadvantage is that such systems also require complex system set up, a time consuming process to install (as much as 3-6 months) and expensive maintaince. Another disadvantage is that the conference rooms used for immersive telepresence conferencing require substantially dedicated real estate (around 30×25 ft). As a result of these drawbacks, one commercial ITP system, Polycom's RPX—Real Presence Experience, provides all of the benefits outlined above, but is only available for about 0.001% of videoconferencing users because of its cost, complexity, and lack of portability.
On the other hand, relatively simple, low cost, and portable conferencing solutions exist. Many of these solutions are starting to provide high quality audio and video that rival the ITP systems. An example of such a system is Polycom's Real Presence Mobile application, which brings high quality videoconferencing to portable devices, such as laptop computers, tablet computers, and smart phones. Polycom Real Presence Mobile can solve problems for people connecting and collaborating face-to-face using HD audio, video and content sharing with colleagues and partners from any one, any where. However, Polycom's Real Presence Mobile solution cannot—by itself—provide an immersive telepresence experience because of the very small screen size on mobile platforms and because of the relatively poor eye contact such systems allow. Rendering far end video on mobile platforms such as an iPhone or tablet computer allows a user to hear and see things at a remote site, but does not create the feeling of “being there” one would get from a true ITP system.